Happy Mother's Day. And for anyone,
I can't remember if I said this, for anyone who is not in the
church directory, if you're listening and you didn't receive the guidelines
that we have to follow, you can call the church and leave your
email address or address on the answer and we'll send you a copy
of the regulations for in-person service. Now would you turn to
Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. I'd like to read verses 16 and 17
of Acts chapter 13. Then Paul stood up and beckoning with
his hand said, men of Israel, And you that fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel
chose our fathers. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name and we come with thanksgiving. We thank you
that your God and beside thee is none else. We thank you for
all your glorious attributes that you have revealed in your
word concerning the greatness of your person. And Lord, we
ask in the name of thy blessed son that we might be enabled
to worship thee. We pray that your gospel would
be preached in the power of your spirit and that you'd give us
hearing ears and receptive hearts. Lord, confess our sins, we pray
for forgiveness, we pray for cleansing and how we thank you
for the precious blood of your son that makes us holy in your
sight. Oh Lord, by your grace, we believe
your gospel and we rejoice in your gospel. We're so grateful
for this opportunity to meet together. We pray for your continued
blessing upon this assembly. Lord, we would remember the Clark
at this time that your healing hand would be upon Jessica. and
we would once again remember the Fortner family that you would
be with them. Lord, bless us for Christ's sake. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together and accept our thanksgiving. In Christ's
name we pray, amen. What a blessing to see you all,
I gotta say it again. Now, as we saw last week, This
was the first recorded sermon of the Apostle Paul. He had heard a similar message
when he heard Stephen preach in Acts chapter seven before
the Lord saved him. And I don't have any doubt that
Paul was one of those people who was gnashing his teeth while
Stephen preached. And you're probably aware After
the sermon, the men laid their coats at Paul's feet so they
could stone Stephen. And Paul was consenting unto
his death. But I have no doubt that he could
not get that message off of his mind, that message that Stephen
preached in Acts chapter 7. And Stephen, as all preachers
did at that time, didn't have anything but the Old Testament.
And he used the Old Testament scriptures to preach that message. And I think it's interesting
when we look at this message that Paul preached, he too uses
nothing but the Old Testament scriptures to bring about the
gospel. And as a matter of fact, in this
message, he uses seven different Old Testament references to where
he got to verse 26, of Acts chapter 13, beginning the message, he
introduced it with these Old Testament scriptures, men and
brethren and children of the stock of Abraham and whosoever
among you feareth God, to you is this word of salvation sent. Now he was using the Old Testament
scriptures to bring him to this point. Now, where does he begin
when he begins this message? Look in verse 17, The God of this people of Israel
chose our fathers. He begins with election. That's a good place to begin,
isn't it? He begins with election. I've entitled this message election
in the Old Testament. Now, it doesn't surprise me that
he begins with election because in his own personal experience,
when Ananias came to him, what's the first thing Ananias said
to him? The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. First thing he heard. Now, it's always good to begin
a message with who God is. And there's nothing that describes
who he is any more than this holy truth of election. This
is such a good way to begin a message or some other aspect of the sovereignty
of God. I think of Peter on the day of
Pentecost. How does he open that message? Him being delivered by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. Same difference, he begins
with the absolute sovereignty of God. How everything that happened
at that time was according to his determinate counsel and foreknowledge. That's who God is. That's who
God is. Now, election tells who God is
and it takes salvation out of the hands of the sinner. Isn't
that a good place to begin? And that's how he began this
message, the God of our fathers has chosen thee. Now I was thinking
about this. I personally have been criticized
several times over the years for preaching too much on election. Is that possible? Now, if I preached election to
the exclusion of some other truth, in reality, it's not that I was
preaching only election. I was preaching a caricature
of election and not even giving election as the Bible presents
it, the God of election. It is impossible to preach election
too much. And if somebody thinks, well,
you preach it too much, you need to hear it all the more then
because you haven't really understood it. and you haven't seen the
glory of this holy truth of God's electing grace. Now, election
is a declaration of the character of God. It's not just, if it's
just a doctrine that you can preach too much, it's just a
doctrine to you. But election is a declaration of the character
of God. I love Ephesians 1, 4, according
as he, hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before." And
that's the Word of God. That's who God is. Who chose
who? He chose us. When was this choice
made? Before the foundation of the
world. Why did He choose us? To the praise of the glory of
His grace. How did He choose us? In Christ. This is God being God and exercising
absolute control. You know, we can't understand
the cross without election. I need to understand who Christ
was dying for, the elect, and what he accomplished in his death,
the complete salvation of all the elect. By one offering he
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. You can't really
understand the cross without this glorious truth of election.
That's why God has it, Paul began with this statement. The God
of our fathers hath chosen, hath chosen. That's where he begins. You know, the Lord looked at
his disciples and said, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen
you. You can't understand the work
of the Holy Spirit without some understanding of election. The
wind blows where it wills. You hear the sound thereof and
can't tell whence it goeth or where it's coming from, even
so is everyone that's born of the Spirit. Everybody that God
elected, everybody that Christ died is born of the Spirit of
God and given life by the Spirit of God. Now, we can't really
understand the true character of man without election. You
know what election says? It says man is so dead in sins
and unable to do anything to save himself that salvation must
be a complete work of God from the beginning to the end. You
can't really believe that salvation is by grace. and don't believe
election. That's a complete denial that
salvation is of the Lord if you don't glory in election. You can't worship God without
worshiping the God of election. There is no true worship. You
think you can manipulate it. That's not worship. And what
a motive electing love gives us for Thanksgiving and for obedience. We're bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Now, I've heard people try to
be dismissive of election by saying, well, election was for
Israel. He was choosing the nation of
Israel and passing by everybody else. It's just kind of an Old
Testament for Israel. Well, you know, I will admit
he did choose Israel, but isn't Israel, the true Israel just
made of individuals and make the whole Israel? I love what
David, the man after God's own heart said when he spoke of election. He said in Psalm 65 verse four,
blessed is he whom thou choosest and causest to approach to thee. Lord, choose me. Lord, cause
me to approach unto thee. Electing love. Now I want to
go to the passage that Paul was referring to from the Old Testament,
and it's actually what my marginal reading gives. Would you turn
to Deuteronomy chapter seven? Deuteronomy chapter seven. We're gonna look at these first
11 verses, but first let's read verses six and seven, and this
is what Paul is referring to when he says, the God of this
people of Israel chose our fathers. Look in verse six, Moses says,
For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy
God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not
set his love upon you nor choose you, because you were more in
number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people,
but because the Lord loved you. Because he would keep the oath
which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought
you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house
of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Now this is what Paul is referring
to, this glorious statement regarding God's electing grace. Now let's begin in verse one
of chapter seven. When the Lord thy God shall bring
thee into the land, whether thou goest to possess it, and hath
cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Kirgishites,
and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites
and the Jebusites. Seven nations greater and mightier
than thou. Seven nations are named that
God will drive out of their homes so the children of Israel can
inhabit them. Now, why? What about these nations? How's this right for him to dispossess
these nations and give them to Israel? Well, look in chapter
nine, verse one. Deuteronomy nine, verse one.
Hear, O Israel, thou art to pass over Jordan this day to go in
to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities
great and fenced up to heaven. a people great and tall, the
children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou
had said, who can stand before the children of Anak? Understand,
therefore, this day that the Lord thy God is he which goeth
before thee. As a consuming fire, he shall
destroy them. He shall bring them down before
thy face, so shalt thou drive them out and destroy them quickly,
as the Lord hath said unto thee, Speak not in thine heart, after
the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying,
for my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess
this land. No, but for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord doth
drive them out from before thee. Not because you are any good
and you deserve this, but I'm driving them out because of their
great wickedness. Verse five, Not for thy righteousness
or for the uprightness of thine heart does thou go to possess
their land, but for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord thy
God doth drive them out from before thee, that he may perform
the words which the Lord swear unto the fathers, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. Understand, therefore, that the
Lord thy God giveth not this good land to possess it for thy
righteousness, for thou art a stiff-necked people. Don't even Think that
you're getting this land because of some goodness on your part.
Don't think God is driving out these nations because of any
goodness in you. But for the wickedness, the perversions,
the wicked practices of these nations, He's driving them out.
God's just. You're not getting them because
of some goodness in you. Israel was not rewarded this
land of their righteousness and these people These people were
dispossessed because of their wickedness. Don't think, well,
how could God take away their land? Because that's exactly
what they deserved. And that's exactly what you and I deserve
as well. Now back to Deuteronomy 7. And when the Lord thy God shall
deliver them before thee, Here's what you're called upon to do
to these seven nations. Thou shalt smite them and utterly
destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with
them, no live and let live, no agreement, nor show mercy unto
them. Neither shalt thou make marriages
with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give
unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
And here's why. For they will turn away thy son
from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will
the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy you suddenly. But thus shall you deal with
them. You shall destroy their altars and break down their images
and cut down their groves and burn their graven images. with
fire. This is how you are to treat
their religion. Now, everybody you come in contact
with when you go to work, when you go out in here, everybody
ought to treat everybody else with respect. I don't care who
they are. Everybody ought to be treated
with respect. I want to treat everybody with
respect. I don't want to be some kind
of arrogant jerk looking down my nose at somebody. I don't
want to do that at all. I want to treat all men with
dignity and with respect. Now, what's this mean then? I'm not treating any religion
with any respect at all that is contrary to the gospel of
God's grace. None at all. I have utter contempt
for the God of works religion. You put works in it, I have utter
and complete contempt. And I am not going to live and
let live in that sense. There's one gospel. the gospel
of Jesus Christ, the gospel of how he gets all the glory and
salvation. Anything contrary to that, I loathe, despise, and treat with
contempt. I'm not going to give any respect
for any religious belief that is contrary to Christ getting
all the glory and salvation and Him being a complete Savior. Do I need nothing else? Anything
contrary to that, burn it. Give it no respect. Get rid of
it. Now that is how God tells us
to deal with human religion. Destroy their altars, break down
their images, cut down their groves, and burn their graven
images with fire. Does that mean we should go to
houses of supposed worship where the gospel is not preached and
burn them? Of course not. Of course not. This is talking
about our attitude towards man's religion. Now look what he says
in verse six. Four. Thou art an holy people unto
the Lord thy God. Now that is a description of
every single believer without exception. Thou art a holy people. Now what about what he said there
in Deuteronomy 9 when he said you're a stiff-necked people?
and you're not getting this land because of any righteousness
in you, because you don't have any. Where's this coming from? Well, it comes from the gospel.
That's where it comes from. Thou art a holy people unto the
Lord, separated from others, chosen to be holy in eternal
election, declared to be holy when Christ died on the cross,
and put away your sin. Made holy in regeneration when
God gave you a holy nature. Now, every believer has this
holy nature. Somebody says, well, I don't
feel very holy. Well, I understand that. I understand that. Because you have these two natures
funneled through one personality. One man, you got a new man, you
got an old man, but it's all funneled through you. And so
if you can say, well, I'm holy there, you don't even know what
holiness is yet. But every believer is holy unto
the Lord, a saint of God, a holy one. As Paul described every
believer in Colossians chapter one, verse 22, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. in his sight. Now God says to
these people, you're a holy people unto the Lord your God. And look
what it says next in verse six, the Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that
dwell upon the face of the earth. The Lord has chosen thee before
time began. He chose you. He chose you. Your name. He knew you. He chose you. Oh, how humbling
is that? How amazing is that? He chose
you. before time began, above all
the people on the face of the earth." Now, this is what could
well be called God's, and listen to this word, discriminating
grace. Now, we usually think of discrimination
in a negative sense, and well, we should. When one type of people
discriminates against another, It's always wrong thinking somehow
we're better and they're worse and we have, that's always wrong.
The fact of the matter is all men are the same. We all came
out of Adam. Discrimination is a terrible
evil. May the Lord deliver us from
that horrible sin. It's terrible. But I'm thankful
God discriminates because if he didn't discriminate and made
a difference between you and somebody else, you and I would
not be saved. Thank God for discriminating
grace. 1 Corinthians 4, 7, Paul quoting
from Exodus chapter 11, where it says, against the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast,
that you may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel. Now that's discrimination, isn't
it? And Paul quoted that in 1 Corinthians 4, 7. Who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what do you have that you
did not receive? What do you have? Faith, repentance,
love for Christ, an understanding of your sin, an understanding
of the sufficiency of Christ, love to his people? What do you
have? that you didn't receive. He gave
it to you. You can't take credit for anything
like that, nor do you want to. Thank God for discriminating
grace. If he didn't do that, I wouldn't
be saved. Now remember this with regard
to God's electing love. God's electing love does not
prevent people from being saved who perhaps otherwise would have
been. God's electing love saves people who would have most certainly
been damned had he not made a difference. Now, if anyone is disposed to
argue against this and question God's fairness, let me tell you
two things that are true about you. Number one, you are blinded
by your own self-righteousness. And number two, you are completely
ignorant of your own sinfulness. That is the only reason anyone
would object to this. If we had some understanding
of our own blinding self-righteousness and utter sinfulness, we would
know the only hope we have is in God's discriminating grace. Now look what he says again in
verse six. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God has chosen thee
to be a special people unto himself. Above all people, that are upon
the face of the earth, chosen to be a special people. It's actually translated in another
place, his jewels, his treasure. Now, I've heard people criticize
this truth as being elitist. I've actually heard that. I've
had people say that to me. Why you think you're special. I want to say this with as much
humility as I know how, but I am. Every believer is special to
the Lord. His special treasure. his special Jews. And all we can say is I stand
amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he
could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean, a special people above
all people. Now, if this makes you proud,
you don't hear what's being said. If it makes you amazed, why me? You're hearing what is said. A special people unto the Lord. Now look in verse seven. The Lord did not set his love
upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than
any people, for you were the fewest of all people. Now the
Lord set his love on you. Think about that for a moment.
The God of glory set his love on you. You're the object of
his eternal love. Jeremiah 31 three, he says, behold,
I have loved you. with an everlasting love, a love
that had no beginning, a love that will never end. Therefore
with loving kindness have I drawn thee, for whom he did foreknow."
That's for love. Know beforehand, love beforehand,
Adam knew his wife Eve. Whom he did foreknow, then He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Herein is love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be the propitiation of our sins. Nothing shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. Now, before you start wondering
how he could love you like that, it was not because of you. You
were the fewest. You were the weakest. You were
the most sinful. God didn't love you like this
because of some loveliness or merit. Here's the reason. You want to know why God can
love you? Here it is in verse eight. But because the Lord loved
you. That's the reason. He loved you because he loved
you. The reason is found in himself.
It's not found in you. It's found in himself. You see, God is love. And his love is saving love. All that he loves, he saves. They are his chosen special people. There's not gonna be anybody
in hell that he loved. Everybody he loves, he saves. Thank God for that scripture.
Jacob have I loved. Jacob, that deceitful, weak,
sinful man, Jacob, have I loved? What should we say then to these
things? Jacob, have I loved? And Esau, have I hated? What
should we say then to these things? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God unfair? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth. nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Look what he says. But, verse eight, but because
the Lord loved you and because he would keep the oath which
he had sworn unto your fathers. Now, God said to Abraham, Abraham
was an idolater. God made himself known to him.
And he said, you're gonna have a great multitude of descendants. Out of your seed, the Messiah
will come. And in these shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. Talking about the gospel, talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. God made a promise. The reason,
the reason he loves you is his covenant love. He made a promise. It goes like this, be kind one
to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, what's
the next word? For Christ's sake, hath forgiven. That's why I loved you, that's
why I've forgiven you, for Christ's sake, because of that eternal
covenant promise that he made. Now, because the Lord loved you
and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto
your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out. Who brought you out? The Lord brought you out. How? With a mighty hand, and redeemed
you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh, king
of Egypt. Now, because the Lord loved you,
because of his promise, his covenant love, he brought you out. He gave you a new heart. He redeemed
you. He put away all of your sins. The price has been paid in full.
Jesus paid it all. All the dead I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. He washed me white as snow. What a glorious achievement that
our Lord accomplished on the cross. And now you're no longer
bondmen under the law, but you're free. Sin shall not have dominion
over you. For you're not under the law.
Aren't you happy? You are under grace. Now, Moses says, know therefore,
verse nine. Know therefore, be keenly aware
of this. Know therefore that the Lord
thy God, he is God. This God who does according to
his will in the armies of heaven, And among the inhabitants of
the earth, none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest
thou? This God who chooses, this God
who makes people special, this God who redeems, this God who
is in absolute control, absolute, this God is God. Anything short
of this God is an idol, is not real. the figment of man's depraved
imagination where he's trying to bring down God to his level
so he can control him and manipulate him. That is not the God of the
Bible. This is God. And look what he says next. Know
therefore that the Lord thy God, thy God, I will be to them a
God. They shall be to me a people.
Yes, he's God. But every believer can say, He's
my God. As Thomas said, my Lord and my
God. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Don't miss that, the Lord, thy
God. He's my God. Somebody says, well,
I'm afraid He's not mine. If you come to Christ, He's yours.
If you look to Christ only, He's yours. You can say, He's my God. Not just God. my God, I am my
beloved's and he is mine. Which it says, know therefore
that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, the faithful
God. Now, what is it? You know what
faithful means. It means you do what you say
you're going to do. You're utterly reliable. That's what faithful
means. If you're a faithful person,
you believe and you can be believed. You trust and you can be trusted.
You rely and you can be relied upon. Now, God is the faithful
God. What does that mean? I think
this scripture will give us more light as to what that means than
maybe any other scripture in the Bible concerning his faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness, Jeremiah
said. But listen to this scripture.
You can turn here if you want. It's 1 John chapter one, verse
nine. It says this. If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
our sins. Now, we may look at that and
say, well, our forgiveness is dependent upon our confessing. If we confess our sins, That
means he's going to be merciful and gracious. He's going to respond
to that confession, and he's going to forgive our sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, what that is, once again,
is salvation by works. That's all that is. What does
he mean when he says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The reason for your forgiveness
is not your confession. The reason for your forgiveness
is his faithfulness. You see, the reason you confess
sin is because He determined beforehand that that's exactly
what you would do. He determined that you were going
to take sides with Him against yourself. The only reason you
do that is because He determined and decreed that you would do
that because you're one of the chosen. And when you confess
your sins, Take sides with God against yourself. My sin is all my fault. God would
be just in damning me. I'm taking sides with Him. Whatever
He does is right. That's what it means to confess
your sins. It's not just to articulate them because you don't even know
what they all are. And there's not enough time in the day for
you to articulate all your sins. It means you're taking sides
with God and agreeing with God with regard to yourself. Now,
if you do that, It is only because He determined that that is what
you would do. He's faithful. And the reason
you're confessing is because of His faithfulness. And look
what it says next. It says, He is faithful. And
what's the next word? Just. Absolutely just. His justice demands your salvation. You know why you're saved? Because
the very justice of God demands your salvation. It's called justification. It means in God's sight, you're
just. And the reason He forgives you
is not because you confessed your sins. It's because His justice
was satisfied and your sin is put away by what Christ did.
Now that is the faithfulness of God. You confessing your sins
isn't because of some goodness in you over and above somebody
else. It's because He in faithfulness
caused it to be. Know therefore, back to our text,
know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful
God which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him,
and keep His commandments to a thousand generations. Now,
this is very important. How can I know if I'm somebody
who God has loved? Well, here's what all of the
elect have in common. They all love God. They love
Him as He is. They love His sovereignty because
that's who He is. They love His holiness. They
love His justice. They love His immutability. They
love His independence. They love His power. They love
His wisdom. Every believer loves God, and
every believer is someone who keeps His commandments. Now,
I have kept the Ten Commandments in Christ. I've kept them. I've
kept them. Somebody says, no, I haven't,
but Christ kept them, but I haven't. Well, if Christ kept them, you
kept them if you're in Him. But I don't really think that's what
he's referring to, although we have kept the Ten Commandments.
He's talking about what John said in 1 John 3, 23. Turn with me there. I know it by heart and I can't
quote it. So turn with me there. First John chapter three. Verse 23, this is his commandment. This is something that every
believer keeps. This is his commandment that we should believe on the
name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as God gave
His commandment. Now, you know what? I do. I believe
on the name of His Son. I believe that all my salvation
is found in His name. You believe that? You really
believe that? Every believer does. That's what
believers believe. They believe all their salvation
is found in His name. And every believer loves everybody
who loves Christ. If somebody loves Christ, you
love them. You keep that commandment. To a thousand generations, verse
10, And he repayeth them that hate him. Now this is everybody
who's not a believer. This is how they're described
by God. He repayeth them that hate him
to their face to destroy them. He will not be slack to him that
hateth him. He will repay him to his face. Know this, if you hate him, he's
gonna repay you to your face because what could be a greater
crime than to hate him who is altogether lovely? If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha. Let him be damned
upon the return of the Lord. Verse 11, thou shalt therefore
keep the commandments The reason you're gonna keep them is because
he said you would. Thou shalt therefore keep the
commandments and the statutes of the judgments which I command
thee this day to do them. Election in the Old Testament
is the same as election in the New Testament, isn't it? Thank
God for his electing love in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Let's
pray.